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0:28Conan O 'Brien needs a fan. beacon theater is that correct yes sir okay why don't you set the stage of what what was the event do you remember the event because i do so many events i do so much for so many people oh god what was the event love rocks yes love rocks they had an amazing band for love rocks it's a great charity uh where they uh feed people uh who are in need in los angeles who have uh and give them nutritious meals. I think people who are being hospitalized or in some kind of treatment, it's a great thing. They get really good people to come out and do it. I couldn't believe the talent that Love Rocks got out there at the Beacon Theater.

1:09It was insane. It was a surreal group of people. It was really cool. And so you and I are chatting backstage, and I think you were saying you're a fan, and I can't remember. I think I said, well, you should call into the show sometime. Did I say it like that? I cheated for sure I think I was standing in there just like a babbling idiot Just non-verbal I went fully non-verbal And then Rebecca from Larkin Poe Was like stopped you as you were trying to leave And told you that I was a gross fan of yours What does gross fan mean? Because I didn't think I didn't hear the term gross fan Did she say gross fan?

1:45She might have said like aggressive Or intense But Well, let me reveal something to you. This is all a trick just to get your information so that we can check on you because your intensity of your fanhood was such that we thought we need to get eyes on you. A welfare check? A welfare check. No, not a welfare check. Well, I mean, if she's that big a fan of you, I'm a little worried about it. You're concerned for her. You're concerned for her employability in the world. No, I just think, you know, we have law officers watching. So this whole thing's being monitored. I just want you to know that right now.

2:22Where are you right now? I appreciate that, Sally. Do you live in New York City? No, sir. I'm in Nashville. I love the no, sir. Yes, I'm in the military. You live in Nashville. And so do you work with Larkin Poe? Because they're fantastic. They're very talented. Yes, I work with them and a couple other touring camps. Okay. So you're with Larkin Poe, and they actually tried to convince me to bring my guitar out on stage and just wing it with them. Oh, you should have. And I was telling them, I'm too scared to wing it with Larkin Poe or pretty much anybody. I'd want a day of rehearsal because I'm a comedian who pretends sometimes to play an instrument.

3:02Just let go, man. No, that's not a good idea. Oh, what's the worst that could happen? Oh, I'll show it to you. Wank. Wank. Wank. La, la, la. La, la, la. Larkin Poe banished from show business. Larkin Poe records plummeting. Larkin Poe's back catalog destroyed. Oh, man. Larkin splits with Poe. Yeah. Poe won't speak to Larkin. Larkin won't speak to Poe. Conor O 'Brien destroys Larkin and Poe. Larkin and Poe is now a law firm. Wait, a successful law firm. It turns out this is the best thing they ever did. There you go. Now they're back in the music business. Because they sued you. Funded by their law firm.

3:45Yeah. Look what you did. What a roller coaster that was. It was a crazy ride. I should have gone out there. Yes. So when did you get addicted to, I wouldn't say addicted to, but you became a fan through the podcast? Of course, through some of my - Oh, yeah. Jesus. Yeah. I'm sorry. She's clearly obsessed. Oh. And it's dangerous. Well, through the podcast, that means you like me and Gourley too, right? Oh, might be a little bit more so than Gourley. Oh!

4:19You can go. So I'll just show myself out. Well, I say that sensitively because isn't that, you know, the point of the podcast? Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. No, it's true. A little bit. People like to see me inflate myself, float up to the ceiling, and then these two, like a pinata. You bash me with sticks. Yeah. You're so good at setting it up. You are. You're a master at self-deflation. Perpetual self-deflation. You brought her on to this show. Yes. I brought you on to deflate me. But wait, tell us about your life. So you are with these different, you work with several bands and you hit the road with them.

4:56Is that right? Yes, sir. I travel with them. It depends on which camp I'm in, but I usually just take care of instruments. Any groups I'd know besides Larkin Poe? Reba McIntyre. Oh my God. Wait, what was the last one? Maren Morris. Oh, wow. Jesus, this is legit. How did you, you seem very young. How did you get into this? This is a good gig. like it's it's i'm very lucky it's very cool um i'm 25 yes and i started when i was 21 22 with terry clark um her her tour manager at the time was a friend of mine and he just needed somebody to fill in on a weekend tuning guitars i was like i can do that so and then it kind of grew from there now when you tune a guitar this i know there's a little device now that goes on the neck of the guitar so you can tune it pretty quickly, right?

5:49And is it just that the musicians are too lazy to do it for themselves? Is that what's going on here? I think it's a matter of cleaner transitions and making sure that the guitar stays in tune because they're subject to the elements outside, humidity, wind, heat, all of that. Nope. Okay. I think Reba's lazy. I think Larkin and Poe are lazy. I think Terry Clark's lazy. I mean I think it would be very humbling and good for their fans to see them occasionally stop and tune their guitar in front of everybody it shows them that they're down in the muck with the rest of us do you tune yours? oh they still see that hey here's my question please here's my question I have nine I have six people tuning my guitar one for each string I have a guy for the low E and the high E two different guys two different E guys?

6:41yeah two different E guys I'm not going to let my low E guy mess with my high E guy. I keep them in separate rooms. I have six people each dedicated to one string. You got a truss rod guy? Oh yeah, that's another guy. I got a pick guard guy. What did you say to me? Capo guy. How dare you jump in, Eduardo? Honestly, Eduardo, that was out of line. We were having a really good time and then you jump in with your capo bit which by the way, he tries every time and it's never appropriate again. It's crazy. He's always going, what about the capo? And I'm like, I'm trying to talk to Francis Ford Coppola about Megalopolis and you keep saying capo.

7:19Oh, sorry. How do you... Do you still have skills at your tech? Oh, you know about skills? Yes. Yeah, I got to meet him at Beacon Theater. I meant to connect with him, but it didn't work out. What did you think of skills? Oh, he's awesome. And yeah. Oh, that wasn't skills then. He's really cool. No, I'm kidding. We were able to get along a lot. And a chill. Skills has been with me since we did our big tour in 2010. And his job every night is I would open the show and do this song that would turn into a dance. And then I would throw my Stratocaster up in the air and he would catch it. And he caught it every night.

7:59Were you worried? No. No. I could always get another guy. It's the Stratocaster. I was worried about the Strat. I mean, the Strat's hard to find. But yeah, I just looked at skills and I thought, you know what I mean? He'll probably be okay. He should probably wear a helmet. But no, he's great. He's terrific. And he takes really good care of me. Sometimes my guitar is perfectly fine. And he'll say, let me take that guitar and give it a little refresh for you. And then I don't see it for a couple of months. That's my one complaint with skills. And I'm going to have to talk to him about it personally.

8:32But I like airing it here on the air first. Anyway, he's my guitar tech. and he goes everywhere with me and I trust him with my life. He's a good man. Yeah, we had a lot in common having very similar artists we work for. You and Rebecca Lovell. Oh, so you're saying that you also work with difficult, insane people. Yeah. Is that what you're saying? I would say more so chaotic than anything else. Kind of unpredictable. Yes. I am a chaos agent. Yes. I think I'm unpredictable. I'm a catalyst for joy, I believe. Oh, well. Well, anyway, let's just keep moving I give and I give but I never receive anyway how do you spell your name your first name L-A-N-I so it's just do you say Lanny or Lainey Lainey Lainey okay that's a cool name where's the E yeah that's a good question she doesn't need it does this look like a girl who needs an E I'm not really sure how many people say Lanny right a lot more than you think because it doesn't You should put a line over the A so people know that it's like the true A.

9:39Yes. You know that flat line they do that means it's the line? Yeah, Lanny. Because that would also give you kind of a cool name, you know, cachet. You're just a one-named Lanny. Just change your name. Yeah. How about Barbara? Gertrude. I actually like Lanny a lot. Lanny's a great name. So you're in charge of all the instruments. Have you ever lost an instrument? Has an instrument ever gone missing on your watch? On my watch, no, but the artist has forgotten their instrument at home and realized when we got to the gig. That has happened. Why did Reba do that? Reba would never. Reba did. It was Reba.

10:20I know it was. It was the one night Reba was going to play the tuba.

10:26She's like, and now, folks, my tuba. Wait, where the hell? Sorry, that's my Reba impression. It's awful. Got a little hillbilly-ish. It's really bad. Everyone loves Reba. Everyone does love Reba. I wish I had a sitcom. I'll get one. It's going to be called Conan. I just thought of it. Yeah. What's the premise? The premise is exactly like Reba. Yeah. I have red hair and I'm living with my family and I don't know. They're a handful. You had a show named Conan. Yeah, that's true. No, I mean a sitcom. Okay, yeah. But is it going to be Conan comma the sitcom? No one calls a sitcom the sitcom. Yeah, what would your sitcom be called?

11:04Just Conan. Just Conan? Yeah. But that's confusing. Because you had a show named Conan for 11 years on TBS. So how would people know if they're watching the talk show or the sitcom? The Conan family. Okay. And then I play all the different characters. Green lit. So bad. What a bad idea. That's a great idea. I come home, honey, I'm home. And then you cut to the top of the stairs and it's me, dressed as my wife. Oh, Conan, you're so handsome. I thought it was going to be you come home and say, honey, I'm home. And there's just never anyone there. It's just always empty. They never existed. And there are 30 minutes of you just walking around the house, talking to yourself.

11:44Yeah. Doing bits. That might fly. Greenlit. Lainey, are you regretting that you called? Yeah. I mean. Not at all. This is the highest form of entertainment for me. Wow. We've got to get you outside. Touch grass. Yeah.

12:09here's my question nashville very cool man that town's blowing up i mean i was there uh what like 15 years ago and then i came back and i they were two different places the two times i've was a long window between when i've played nashville and it was two completely different places it's like atlantic city overgrown is it overgrown terrible yeah okay did you grow up in Nashville? I did not. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Okay. So you're kind of an interloper too. You're kind of the problem. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Nashville blew up. I would say I'm the epicenter of the destruction.

12:43That's kind of what I was trying to get to. The beginning of the downfall. I think the beginning of the downfall was you misrepresenting the pronunciation of your name in the spelling. Sure. Sure. And then it is spelled incorrectly. Then you move to Nashville and say, I can't believe all these people moved to Nashville. when hello well i brought them yeah you came in a giant a giant mothership with hundreds of thousands of people um well what's the plan okay and i'm gonna sound like your dad what's the long term plan here that is that's tough to decipher when you're in the middle of touring because you love it so much and you don't necessarily want to leave but growth is inevitable or you'd hope and so I think end goal would be working in sort of a production management role so still touring but in in a higher bracket and also kind of less um hands-on I'd guess you sounds like she's got I'm talking first of all you're 25 and you are a very impressive person I think I didn't take you seriously because you said you were a fan.

13:54But first of all, I would say the fact that you love what you do and you're doing it successfully at 25 is all you have to know. The next step, at the risk of being sincere, the next step will become obvious to you. But to be 25 and be doing what you love is magical. That's magical. And so you I don't worry about. I think the next step will become obvious to by the doing of it, don't you think? Yes. Well, thank you. Yeah, I'm just really enjoying saying yes to opportunities that come my way and seeing what comes from them. Like this, for example. If I didn't have that job, I wouldn't be able to be talking to you right now.

14:35Well, I think it was really... You mean Soda and Matt. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, was it Larkin or Poe who really made this happen?

14:45Funny enough, they're actually not Larkin and Poe. It's actually the name of, I think, fourth great grandfather of theirs. Oh, what a cool name. Descendant of Edgar Allen. And so they just run with that. But Rebecca and Megan are the two girls. And Rebecca is the one who stopped you and yelled at me to write down my name because I was nonverbal and couldn't collect myself. Yeah, that's right. She was yelling at you. Write down your name. Write down your name. Give it to Conan. I thought it was very strange. It was a very strange encounter. Yeah, it worked. Yeah, I know. Look what happened. And we got to meet Lainey and have a nice conversation.

15:20But maybe now, Lainey, maybe I should go out on tour as a musical act. What do you think? Absolutely. Yes. And then you should bring me in skills and we'll have a great time. Or maybe we lose skills. Aww. Well, I'm just saying, what does he bring to the table? Well, what are we going to do if you... I can't do anything. I mean, Matt, you play guitar. I can't do anything. No, well, listen. You know, I'm terrible with music. Oh, but your singing is very good. Why don't you show Lainey what you can do? Go ahead. I'm a terrible singer. Sing the sun will come out tomorrow. It's really good. The sun will come out tomorrow.

15:52Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow. There's a sweetness to that. Fuck you. No, I'm being serious. You know what? Oh, were you? You know what? Her fuck you was more in tune than her sun will come out tomorrow. Her fuck you was perfect. Were you being genuine? I was being genuine, but I retracted. I'm so sorry. I thought you were doing a thing. You know what? No, no, no. There was an innocence to it. Like someone discovering their voice for the first time. It's because the song is like that. But I can't sing. Sing a Cher song. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, you love Cher. Can we hear a Cher song? They say our love won't pay the rent before it's earned.

16:31Our money's all been spent. Okay.

16:37Lainey, help me. What the fuck? In her defense, I think she might have more experience saying fuck you than singing. Yes! That's not true. Sing fuck you. Fuck you. Oh my God. You could shatter a glass with that. She's like, fuck you. She hits this impossible note and all the glasses in the neighborhood shatter. Fuck you. Yeah, suddenly you're signed up for the Metropolitan. It's okay. Okay. I know that about myself. It's fine. You know yourself and that's your greatest quality. That's right. But I'm saying if you go on a musical tour, what do we do? Can you just pay me to do nothing? I do that now.

17:19That's true. Lainey, before we go, tell us a little bit about your everyday life. You know, give us a sense of who you are. All we've talked to is the working Lainey, who's yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir. What do you do for fun? When I'm home, my routine is usually, you know, take care of my dog, work out, find some way to form income that day. good lord whether that's prep yeah very uh very exciting okay it's oh this is just full this is any criminal would say the same thing find some way to create income well let's just let's just steal that i noticed you got a stack of wallets behind yeah i know uh um but i play guitar i like to hike i like to be active as much as i can i like to go to shows in town laney as you can tell Well, and you probably noticed when I came past the Larkin Poe dressing room that I'm a workout fiend as well.

18:18Pause. Pause. Pause. Pause. Anyway, what's your workout regimen? Me, I like weights. I like my cardio. Pause. Pause. What do you like to do? What do you lift, bro? I usually put on a weighted vest, like you've talked about recently that Liza's done. I'll walk about four-mile loop. Yeah, my wife wears a weighted vest. I also wore a weighted vest My marital responsibilities We all waited for it It's a punchline It was going to go three different ways There was nine different ways I was going to say the two of us Were your weighted vest No that goes around my neck That's called the lodestone

19:05That sounds like it should get checked out I know it does Hey lodestone is not a bad name for a band ladies and gentlemen, Lodestone so is that what you're going to tour as? I don't know yet, I'm thinking about I'd like to go out on the road I really would, and you know what, I think I would trust you, I would trust you to run things on the road with skills, okay would skills be upset if I put you I would put skills beneath you you'd be in charge of skills you're asking if you think he'd be upset? yeah, now skills I should point out is 79 years old when you were 25. But still, I mean... Well, Skills is much more competent.

19:45Interesting. I'm going to leave that alone. And then doesn't just tell you that he's looking for forms of income when that was the most awkward way she could have said that. It's so true. It's true. That was really weird the way you say it. No, I won't put down Skills anymore because I love him too much, and he's great. He's the best. But I'm glad we met. Now, can I just ask you about this meeting? Was I normal during the meeting, or was I, you can say. Well, I'm actually really glad you asked because the point I met you at, you were pretty, I think, stressed in that moment. You had a lot thrown at you from there, all of a sudden giving you more tasks to do on stage and things to say.

20:23And I thought that was really cool to see, you know, the humanity of it and the humility of it, of you just being vulnerable and saying, this is a lot. And it's more than what I thought I was getting into and more than I asked for. So it was really cool. no no no I was oh Maria Callas I wouldn't go there no you know what I remember is it was just it was like a lot of things where you show up and you're told you're going to do one thing and then suddenly it keeps multiplying and what happens is anybody you just get a it's fear it's just fear yeah it's like oh shit I didn't know I was going to do that what if that doesn't go well like I had that one song I knew I was going to do up front and then introduce uh the show start the show but but then when there's more than that there's fear and that never goes away i'm always waiting for that to go away and then i realized um jesus if it hasn't gone away now that is never going away you'd probably see that's cool like all the time yeah it was really a gift to see you to see that like because that fear still gives you drive and it's a reason to keep doing what you're doing and it was just cool the whole like celebrities they're just like us thing to see that somebody you look up to isn't, isn't too different.

21:35Some of them are not like us. There's some soulless bastards out there. And I found that out too. Yeah. Yeah. We'll do the names on the next podcast. Yeah. Call in and just give the names, but we all know. We all know who we're talking about. Jason Bateman.

21:56Oh, come on. Jason knows I'm kidding. Monster. um it was very nice talking to you and finally getting the word out on Jason Bateman yeah it's time take him down yeah no ask anyone ask Will Arnett he'll tell you uh Monster Monster posing as a man um it was lovely talking to you I hope our paths cross again next time you see me backstage I will say this if it's before I've gone on I will be nervous someone a long time ago told me if you're not nervous before you go on something's wrong so I think that's true That's really cool. I think that's the good news and the bad news about this business. But very cool talking to you.

22:34I think show business and music is in good hands if you're out there. Seriously. Well, thank you. And I do have a question if that's appropriate. Oh, yeah, of course. And a little bit of context that isn't exactly kind. I grew up kind of hating you, I guess. Oh, I love the way this is going. Which I knew Sonon and Matt would enjoy. Go on. And then around, well, in college, my best friend introduced me to the podcast. And I absolutely fell in love with it. And so I was telling my mom about it and I was saying, why did I hate him? Like, what's going on? Like, why didn't I never think he was funny?

23:05And she said that when I was a small child, like toddler age, you would come on the screen and terrify me. And I would scream anytime I saw your hair.

23:22So you didn't like me because as a child, my hair, I frightened you when you were in a formative state. stage you're you were very you were too young and you were frightened by the by the the weird muppet on tv that's what i've been told yes and i guess that grew and i didn't never i never questioned it um that's a great question like when oh okay that's not a question the question the question would be what what tactics would you use to convince a child who is afraid of you to not be afraid well that's really creepy that's creepy on so many levels i have some thinking about it now. Yes. Get in my van.

23:58You like vans? Here's a red balloon. Oh my God. You know what I've always noticed? I'll answer this seriously, even though this is an invitation to be arrested. I just did this last night because I was over at Sona's house and she has twins who are almost three. What I've always done is with little kids is because I'm 6 '4 and then my features and my hair can be frightening. actually to people of all ages um i get down on the floor and get lower than them and animals and kids chill when you're smaller than they are so i just get on the floor and i got on the floor of mikey and charlie's room so and you weren't there and they both immediately just start like kind of jumping on me and bashing me but laughing and having a good time because I'm now smaller than they are.

24:54You're on their level. I'm beneath their level. And I'm beneath them. And they knew I was always beneath them. So that's, I guess, my tactic. I apologize for that being creepy. I was unintentional. No, no. No, but I like how it started with, I, for most of my life, hated you. And then there was a medium where I couldn't see you, but could hear you. But from a toddler's perspective, you can be scary. Because you also do, like, close-up shots of your face a lot. You dance around. Yeah, yeah. I'm a little toddler. I'd be like, oh my God, what's happening with this guy? Yeah, he's very needy. Something's wrong with him.

25:26Oh, I don't know. Well, I appreciate the honesty of the question, and I hope you can go back and review the best of some of my early work and maybe reevaluate it. Oh, I have, and I adore it. It's great. Oh, there I am. And I realize what I've been missing. I realize what I was missing, yes. Oh, she's my favorite now. Yeah. Okay. Well, Lainey, we're going to jump off, but really nice to talk to you again. I'm glad this worked out. my best to the ladies of Larkinpo and thank you so much for calling in this is cool well thank you I really appreciate it it was great meeting up with you alright take care lady bye bye thanks